Overview
An automation is a rule that moves someone forward without an admin opening their application.
It can sit at three levels, and choosing the wrong one is the difference between a journey that runs itself overnight and one that quietly stalls. This article is for administrators wiring a form to a sequence and an opportunity.
1. What does an automation actually do?
It assigns a person to a sequence, to an opportunity, or to both, when something happens.
That is the whole mechanism. What changes between the three levels is when it fires.
2. What are the three levels?
- Form level. Fires on submission, or based on a specific answer. Assigns the person to a sequence or an opportunity.
- Step level. Fires part way through a sequence. Assigns them to another sequence or another opportunity.
- Sequence level. Fires when they finish the sequence. Assigns whatever comes next.
Chain all three and an application can arrive, be routed, be onboarded and end up approved for the right opportunity without an admin opening it once.
3. Which level should I use?
Match the level to the moment the decision is actually made.
- Form level for the first routing decision, when the answers on the form are enough to know where someone should go. This is the one most organizations need and the one most often left unset.
- Step level when something part way through onboarding changes what the person needs. A step that reveals they are a minor, or that they want a different program, can route them from there.
- Sequence level for the approval at the end. Someone who has completed screening is someone you are ready to approve, so let finishing the sequence do it.
4. Can a specific answer decide the route?
Yes, and that is the point of automating at form level.
Rather than firing the same rule for everyone who submits, you can route on how someone answered a particular question. Different answers can send people to different sequences or different opportunities, so one form can serve several programs.
5. What happens if I set no automation at all?
Applications sit in the Forms module until a person notices them.
Nothing is lost, and you can assign people by hand at any time. But the manual step is exactly the work automations exist to remove, and it is the most common reason a new applicant hears nothing for a week.
Summary
- An automation assigns someone to a sequence or an opportunity when a trigger fires.
- Form level fires on submission or on a specific answer.
- Step level fires part way through a sequence.
- Sequence level fires on completion, which is the natural place for approval.
- Routing on a specific answer lets one form serve several programs.
- With no automation, applications wait in the Forms module for a human.
Where to go next